Many small pleasure boats have inboard motors of various different configurations, as for example four cylinder inline motors, V-8 motors, straight 6 motors, V-6 motors, and the like. These inboard motor boats usually received at the owner's home and are transported to the lake each time the owner wishes to enjoy the pastime of motor boating. The motor boats are usually transported to and from the lake by a trailer made especially for hauling the boat. The motor and propeller drive system is often made into the configuration of an inboard/outboard arrangement, known to those skilled in the art.
The internal combustion motors used in these motor boats usually are of the water cooled type. The motor drives a water pump which causes lake water to be pumped directly from the lake, through the cooling jacket of the motor, and back into the lake. Accordingly, any contamination contained within the lake water are transferred into the cooling system of the motor boat. These contaminants are usually considerable and cause subsequent undesirable chemical reactions to occur within the motor water jacket and therefore should be removed from the motor after each boating trip.
All internal combustion motors have provisions by which the water jacket can be completely drained of coolant. Sometimes the manufacturer provides plugs which must be removed in order to drain the water jacket, while other manufacturers place a drain cock on the engine block which is connected at an elevation which enables various different parts of the cooling system to be drained. Usually the drain plugs, or drain cocks, are found at some inaccessible location which renders manipulating the cock or removing the plug very difficult. This inconvenience often results in skinned knuckles, burned hands, and over a period of time the drain plugs and cocks become unduly worn, especially if the boat owner opens and closes the plugs or cocks with improper tools, such as a pair of pliers, for example.
The inaccessability of drain plugs and drain cocks on a motorboat motor causes one to procrastinate in his duties of draining the cooling system, which results in accelerated corrosion and fouling of the cooling system. This is detrimental to the life of the motor. During the winter, in cold regions of the country, the failure to drain the cooling system of an inboard motor can result in the water jacket freezing. This catastrophe often cracks or breaks the cylinder head or cylinder block or water jacket exhaust manifolds unless one is very fortunate and the freezed plugs are pushed from the block, thereby avoiding serious damage.
It would therefore be desirable to have made available a means by which the water jacket of an inboard motor can be easily and conveniently drained by a single manipulation of some sort of drain device. Moreover, it would be desirable that such a drain device be conveniently located so that it is readily accessible by the boat operator. Such a desirable apparatus is the subject of the present invention.
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